Hi, my name is Lisa and I haven’t searched for a long lost friend on Facebook for at least three minutes!

Jose thought I was too old to be on Facebook and I sort of agreed. He forbade me to add my nieces and nephews as friends as it would be very uncool for them to have their aunt on their list of friends (even a hip aunt like me!). But then people started finding me and before long I started searching for people I knew but had lost touch with. I found my Australian psychologist/guitarist/songwriter friend, Greg, from Grad school, and Sandra who I met on a train to Lake Titicaca and traveled with for almost a month. I have three friends from L.A. who fled the country for quieter (colder) lives in Canada and Germany, and I’ve even met other Manterfields who come from the farther branches of my family tree.

It’s fun to reconnect with people you haven’t seen for a long time. It’s fascinating to see their lives and sometimes depressing when you see how old their other friends are and realize that you’re one of them. It’s also addictive to wrack your brains for people you went to school with or spent a period of your life with some time long ago and add them to your list of friends. I’ve also found people I once knew and decided not to reinstate that connection. People come and go from your life and sometimes you have just let them be.

I did add my nieces and nephews to my friends and if I cramped their style, they were gracious enough to not mention it. From a safe distance (safe for them, rather than me, I suspect) I can watch them grow up and if they’re so inclined, they can check up on their old aunt once in a while, too.